BTTB-X-Series: Poets Of Rhythm
Heute gibt's einen Mix von einem Projekt, von dem ich lange geglaubt hab,
daß sie aus den USA stammen. Umso überraschter war ich, als ich hörte, daß sie
in Wirklichkeit in München wohnen. Dort haben sie sich in den 80'ern
kennengelernt und öfters zusammen musiziert. 1991 gründeten sie die Poets
of Rhythm und schon 1992 produzierten sie auf eigene Kosten ihre erste 7",
für die sie mit Hotpie & Candy sogar ein Label gründeten. Die nahmen sie
mit in die USA und liessen sie dort in einem Plattenladen in New Orleans
zurück. Was folgte hört sich an wie ein schlechter Film, ist aber wahr:
Lyrics Born von DJ Shadow's Solesides Label wurde auf die 7" aufmerksam,
weil ihm ein Bild der Band, das die Poets in die 7" gesteckt hatten, gefiel:
"I first discovered the Poets of Rhythm on a record buying trip to New
Orleans in the early nineties. It was one of their anonymous releases on
their Hotpie & Candy label, and included in the sleeve was a photo of the
guys in front of Sea-Saint studios, the famous studio owned by Meters
producer Allen Toussaint. I was totally confused by the photo, and figured
it must have been planted in the sleeve by some record collector practicing
a random act of silliness. I was totally convinced this was a 45 from the
early 70's based on the title, the way it was mixed, the instrumentation,
and the arrangements. When I asked around to my collector friends, nobody
seemed to have heard of the group, but some did have other singles on the label."
Er kaufte sie also und ihm gefiel auch die Musik: "Total commitment to
authenticity with regard to that special era of funk they embodied so well"
sagt er. Die Poets im fernen München wußten davon natürlich nichts, und
die Geschichte wär im Sande verlaufen, wenn sie nicht 1993 ihr Debut-Album
"Practice What You Preach" aufgenommen hätten. Lyrics Born:
"About a year later, the only cool record store in Davis had an album
by the Poets of Rhythm, and after seeing them on the cover, I instantly
made the connection. What set them apart was their total commitment to
authenticity with regard to that special era of funk they embodied so well.
With the release of the Latyrx album on Solesides, I was in constant contact
with a SoleSides enthusiast who championed our album within our then German
distributor. I had done a song called 'Burnt Pride' that had a very live
feel, and wanted to further pursue making more live music, and asked if he
knew of this group in Germany that I knew could interpret my ideas. The group
I asked him about was the Poets of Rhythm. As soon as he told me he was one of
their producers we began trading tapes and stories, and the relationship
was established."
1998 flog Lyrics Born nach Deutschland, um mit den Poets an gemeinsamen
Stücken zu arbeiten. Während dieser Zeit hatte er Gelegenheit, die neuen
Stücke der Poets anzuhören. "Listening to the tracks I was blown away by
the way they had grown so much since the Hotpie and Candy/Practice What
You Preach days. Gone were the 'funky' song titles and James Brown-ish
grunts. What replaced them were incredibly intricate arrangements and
rhythms, each instrument cleverly placed to fill in the gaps within the
bar, creating an exhilarating 'push-pull' effect. The musicianship was
now world-class and tighter than most bands I have heard in our time
period, regardless of genre. It sounded so good, I had to borrow the
backing track for what would later become our club hit, 'I Changed My Mind''.
Diese Titel wurden kürzlich auf dem Album "Discern/Define" veröffentlicht.
Ninja Tune vertreibt das Album in Europa und hat uns drei CDs zum Verlosen
angeboten. Die Preisfrage lautet: Das Solesides-Label von DJ Shadow wurde
kürzlich umbenannt. Wie heißt es heute? Schickt Eure Antworten bis zum
30.10. an bttb@vinylizer.net.

A vast back catalogue of 12" releases and remixes is not what osymyso
has been about up until now, osymyso has been about the one off
presentation of 'bootleg' mixes and topical recontextualisation and
representation of ideas and concepts. So to truly experience osymyso
you have to hear a mix or be in the crowd at an event he is performing
at.
Osymyso began to play music in clubs and bars in 1994 using as many
inputs as was possible, using tape players, Dictaphone, CD players and
FM Radio to create a random mix of anything and everything. This style
of Djing evolved into today's extensively pre-prepared blend of the
familiar and absurd, making bootleg style mixes in the hours leading
up to an DJ slot that could include anything from current soap opera
dramas to the financial news on CNN. To date there have been very few
releases that encapsulate these performances, so you will only get to
hear them in clubs or with mix CD's. Osymyso has destroyed most of the
mixes to date in order to retain freshness and originality in future
mixes, but don't be surprised if something long forgotten pops up in
there.
Osymyso has recently set up a new label. 3Sevens, that will endeavour
to release similar styles of music with a blatant disregard of the
copyright laws. The first release 'Pat n' Peg' is now sold out and the
next releases can be expected in October.